Hangul syllable 웉

웉 is one Korean syllable, not a complete message. It combines the silent initial letter ㅇ, the vowel ㅜ, and the final consonant ㅌ. In a Korean word, it contributes one syllable; by itself, it does not identify which word is meant.

This exact block is one of the many syllables built with Hangul, not a separately invented sign. Hangul was announced in 1443; the Hunminjeongeum, a book explaining its letters and how to use them, appeared in 1446. The writing system was designed to represent Korean speech and make reading easier to learn. Before Hangul, writers adapted Chinese characters to write Korean through systems called Idu, Hyangchal, and Gugyeol. Later, Korean writing used Hangul alongside Chinese characters and eventually mostly on its own.

How do I type 웉?

Turn on Korean input and enter ㅇ, ㅜ, then ㅌ. The input method assembles them into 웉.

Unicode can represent a Hangul syllable as one combined block or as a sequence of equivalent separate letters. Text-processing software can switch between those forms without changing the syllable. Fonts also vary the letters’ shape, size, and placement, so the same syllable may look different across screens.